Bending Taking Place in a Forged Axle Beams When Annealed in Furnace

Is it possible that their own weight could generate a bending moment as function of the position you hang them in ? It is only an other suggestion which does not affect previous one which I consider as most probable but nothing should be neglected. Is the temperature field in the oven uniform ? A strong gradient could also lead to problems.

Slighty different industry but likely a similar problem. When a gas turbine on a large machine is tripped it is imperative to keep the machine barring through a cooling cycle - in our case several hours were required to disipate stored heat. Doing a dead stop on the machine would cause the tubine to bow - centre shaft upwards - causing catastrophic damage to the blades and casing.

You need to have re look at the design of the component. Its quite possible that the section at the bend is thin or less in volume as compared to the adjacent section. Therefore the thin section gets heated faster than the thick section. There is differential temperature at that point and bending takes place. In case the metal is low carbon steel and is carburised before hardening, keep the thin section thicker and then, machine it before hardening to the desired dimension. This MAY solve your problem.